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Original Blade Runner Theatrical
Release Poster |
Blade Runner 2049 is a film that is being universally lauded by critics, with some even saying it is better than the original. However, my viewing of the film left me with very different impressions. Though the film has good elements and was "enjoyable" in a watch-ability sense, much of the film was uneven, lacking in subtlety or underdeveloped. This review will aim to compare the two Blade Runner films, and through this comparison draw out the positives and negatives of each.
Firstly, let's examine the original Blade Runner. The strengths that are traditionally praised are of course the stunning visuals and the creation of a convincing and real dystopian future. The nightmarish, claustrophobic cityscape, drenched with atmospheric rain to contrast with the blindingly bright neon advertising has become a staple of dystopian sci-fi's since and is arguably the most influential aspect of the film. The whole atmosphere is reinforced by Vangelis' eerie techno-jazz score which perfectly captures the sci-fi, neo-noir feel of the film. However, the chief emotional strength of the film is Rutger Hauer's performance as Roy Batty, the leader of a group of renegade replicants seeking to expand their life span. His "Tears in the Rain" speech is of course the emotional climax, but throughout Roy is an engaging and ambiguous figure. In typical genre terms he is of course "the bad guy", the evil robot murdering innocent humans, seen chiefly in his cold manipulation of lonely and sympathetic replicant engineer, J.F. Sebastian. However, by the end of the film he is transformed into a Christlike figure and, though the religious imagery is definitely too heavy handed with the nails through his hands and the white dove, Roy's decision to save Deckard makes him the true hero of the film, showing his humanity through his ability to show mercy.
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Harrison Ford as Deckard and Sean Young as Rachel-
a lack of chemistry? |
In contrast, where the film falls flat is its main character. Harrison Ford's performance has long been derided as too flat and boring. In his defence, it must be said that he was trying to imitate the deadpan acting of neo-noir leads, such as Jack Nicholson in Chinatown. However, this deadpan style always walks a fine line between subtlety of acting and simply negating any interest in the character and sadly Deckard falls in the latter category. A simple way to demonstrate this is to try and describe what Deckard's character is. There is almost nothing to say. He really seems to have very little motivation throughout the film, other than that he is doing his job. He undergoes almost no change of character. The chief problem lies in his total lack of chemistry with Rachel, played by Sean Young. Harrison Ford and Sean Young famously disliked each other on set and it shows in the film. There is really no sense of attraction between the two of them, let alone love, and the scene where they get together is not only unconvincing but actually ends in Deckard forcing Rachel to kiss him, which should make any modern audience member distinctly uncomfortable. Deckard's arc is clearly meant to be that at first he is a washed up cop, with no meaning or purpose to his life, seeing killing replicants simply as a job to be done. Then, meeting and falling in love with Rachel should give him new meaning in his life, as well as make him question his role in killing replicants, something which is finally reinforced when he is saved by Roy at the film's end. As it is, the lack of chemistry between Rachel and Deckard leaves the film with a main character who is uninteresting and unengaging, which means that it is difficult for the audience to be invested in the plot leading to claims that the film "drags" or at worst is "boring".
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Blade Runner 2049 Theatrical
Release Poster |
How does Blade Runner 2049 compare? Well, visually it strongly builds on the original film, creating similar striking cityscapes but also showing us other aspects of the Blade Runner world. From the nuclear wasteland, filled with towering, now abandoned statues, to the film's final confrontation in the water, the film looks incredible, and combines CGI well with on location filming. The score is also effectively used, both with new material but also effectively deploying melodies from the original film at key points. Moreover, plot wise Blade Runner 2049, at least at first, creates an intriguing and taut plot, along classic noir lines, in the form of officer K's investigations into replicants. Some, or even many, reviewers are claiming that the plot of 2049 is better than that of the original, praising the fact that K "actually does some investigating" in contrast to the first film (@RedLetterMedia). This is unfair on the original. The rather infamous "enhance" scene from the original is actually a prime example of Deckard doing investigating, and for an engaged viewer has a sense of tension about it. In some ways the second film actually loses the noir plot element more than the original film, as in the third and final act it spirals into blockbuster action territory.
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| Ana de Armas as "Joi" and Ryan Gosling as K |
What Blade Runner 2049 does really well compared with the original, however, is the relationship between the lead character and the romantic lead. Ryan Gosling is fantastic as Officer K, portraying his change from deadpan unthinking replicant gunslinger to someone with real humanity by the end of the film. He makes the change that Deckard should have made during the first film, and this gives us a real emotional climax at the end of the film when K's story line is given its conclusion. The success of K's character is in no small part down to his relationship with "Joi", a mass produced hologram whose role is to be its owner's girlfriend, played by Ana de Armas. Gosling and de Armas have fantastic chemistry but the relationship on its own has a real poignancy, and the film's most impactful scenes come from their interactions. Feminist critics of the film have argued that it objectifies women, in presenting de Armas as "a doting, doe-eyed housewife, she appears to him in hologram form as and when he dictates, wearing and saying whatever she thinks suits his mood." This, in my view, misunderstands the film's message, as shown in two key moments. Firstly, after K and "Joi" have sex through a prostitute who Joi hires, the film then cuts away to a large neon advertisement of "Joi" on the side of a skyscraper. Similarly, at the end of the film, K encounters a huge, naked, holographic Joi advertisement which attempts to seduce him. The point of these two scenes is to make a
feminist point: to remind us that Joi is a corporate product, programmed to convince its owner that it loves them. The effect of the advertisement suggests to the audience how K's experience of love is neither unique nor genuine but simply the product of a company. That said, the film is definitely more ambiguous about Joi thematically than these two scenes would suggest. K is definitely in love with her, and she appears to be in love with him. The film therefore raises the question: if your holographic corporate product appears in all respects to love you, what is the difference between that and real love? It is a classic case of Blade Runner's "More Human than Human" theme.
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| Jared Leto as Niander Wallace |
However, in almost every other respect, Blade Runner 2049, in my opinion, fails to truly reach the heights of great film making. The narrative itself devolves, in the third act, into a rushed action finale. The introduction of the replicant resistance, simply for the purposes of exposition, in order to make important plot revelations to K, feels forced and unnecessary. What makes it particularly frustrating is that the idea of the replicant resistance is an interesting one, which makes it so frustrating that it is just casually thrown in, with almost no build up. Moreover, the villains of the film lack any degree of complexity, in total contrast to the original film. Jared Leto's Wallace is a completely one sided character, simply defined by his evilness. Compare this to the equivalent figure in the original film, Dr Eldon Tyrell, who tries to portray himself as the benevolent creator but always carries with him a suggestion of malevolence and cold steely pragmatism. Wallace's evilness could be excused if the film's other villain had been more complex. However, Wallace's replicant henchman, "Luv", is perhaps even worse. Her motivation throughout the film seems unclear, only explained by unflinching loyalty. This has been explained to me as a result of her being a new type of replicant, programmed only for loyalty. But for me, this does not excuse a boring character, especially one who, at the beginning of the film, appeared to be more complex, flirting with K and crying when Wallace killed a new replicant. What would have been more interesting was if she had struggled with her status as a replicant to some degree, perhaps similar to Roy's struggle in the first film. As it is, she was totally uninteresting and became the equivalent of the infamous "strong (wo)man" from the Indiana Jones films.
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Old and grumpy and playing Deckard, it's Harrison
Ford again |
Robin Wright's Lt. Joshi was well played and moderately interesting, but was given very little development and as such came off as a missed opportunity. Similarly, Deckard's appearance in the film was fairly good, but in this case it was limited by the original film. We are building up to Deckard's arrival throughout the whole film, partly due to plot but also due to the presence of Harrison Ford in the film's advertising. However, when he arrives, though Harrison Ford acts the part well, it feels jarring. This is because Deckard in the first film didn't really have any character. When he starts making jokes about cheese upon his entrance in Blade Runner 2049, it doesn't really feel like the Deckard of the original Blade Runner, who for most of the film is rather cold and impersonal. Moreover, the scene where Wallace presents him with a replicant copy of Rachel to try and persuade him to co-operate also falls flat, because it depends upon the audience's belief that Deckard and Rachel were deeply in love, despite the fact that in the first film Deckard borderline sexually assaults her and they appear to have little or no chemistry or affection for each other. Blade Runner 2049 arguably can't be blamed for the flaws of the original, but this doesn't prevent the fact that scenes fundamentally based upon the original's flaws fall flat.
Overall, I would say the biggest problem with Blade Runner 2049 is that it tries to do too much. One of the strengths of the original film is that it only really has three characters: Deckard, Rachel and Roy. Blade Runner 2049 doesn't firmly settle which relationship it wants to make the film about. To some degree it hints at K and Joi's relationship being the central one in the film, but that plot line comes to an end long before the film's conclusion. Instead, we have far too many characters and relationships: K, Joi, Deckard, Joshi, Luv and Wallace, as well as the prostitute and the memory creator. The ending of the film demonstrates most clearly the film's failure to focus, but requires large spoilers so skip the end of this paragraph if you haven't seen the film yet. SPOILER ALERT. At the end of the film, K shows Deckard where his daughter is living, and then lies down to die on the steps outside, with the "Tears in the Rain" melody playing. This should be where the film ends, because the film is K's story, which has been brought to a conclusion. Instead, however, we head inside and are shown Deckard meeting his daughter. This seems to be more of an attempt at fan service, to give Deckard's story some closure. But this distracts from the film's focus on K. His personal story gets rather dwarfed in the grand scale of the film, which is sad because for the most part his character feels very real and as an audience we sympathise with him.
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| "Like Tears in Rain"- Rutger Hauer as Roy Batty |
In conclusion, Blade Runner 2049 has its moments but is perhaps best described as a film with elements that are great, and other elements which could have been great, but were not executed perfectly. For the most part, other than the relationship between K and Joi, the film seems to lack emotional connection and thematic intelligence. The first film, whilst not perfect in its own right, and perhaps being less enjoyable, is better put together as a coherent package, with two tightly plotted storylines and a small amount of developed characters. At their best, the Blade Runner films make us question what it is to be human, and there is nothing within Blade Runner 2049 to rival the ultimate heartbreaking humanity of the "Tears in the Rain" speech.
Ratings:
Blade Runner: Entertainment: 6 Technical: 5 Intelligence: 5= 16/20 ****
Blade Runner 2049: Entertainment: 6 Technical: 5 Intelligence 3= 14/20 ***
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Links to reviews quoted in this review:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1Gqjjq1nic
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/oct/09/is-blade-runner-2049-a-sexist-film-or-a-fair-depiction-of-a-dystopic-future
